How our partners support our search

Savana Partners uses a traditional search fund partnership structure. Unlike a private equity fund, we don't own any other companies, we will buy only one, and we will run it ourselves. But unlike an independent sponsor or self-funded search (the more common types of entrepreneurial buyers), we already have pre-negotiated terms and a signed operating agreement with the partners that will be supporting us with capital and operating mentorship.  They are legal partners in Savana Partners, LLC, with us (Fiona and Caleb) as its founders and managing members.  They help cover the operating expenses of Savana as we search for a company to acquire. In return, they gain the right to contribute an amount of purchase capital up to their share in the partnership.

We interviewed dozens of potential partners.  In the end, we settled on 19 that we really liked and that really liked us. They represent some of the most respected names in the industry.  They in turn invest in us through their own companies, some of which you may have heard of:

How our partners support acquisition 

Once we have identified a business to acquire, we work closely with a lead partner who understands the business and us to determine the terms of an acquisition. We share our conclusions with the rest of the partners for discussion.  While any one of them could fund our acquisition by themselves (they are primarily family offices and committed funds), we believe there is an advantage in having a number of interested and diverse partners.

One advantage in having multiple interested partners is if one or two partners decide not to invest during due diligence, we can still keep going with the most interested partners instead of cancelling. Another advantage to multiple partners is a more balanced and diversified ownership with a broad network, which can be a significant advantage to the business.

As a community, our partners have supported over a dozen entrepreneurial acquisitions like ours each year of businesses valued from $3 million to $30 million in a few key industries. Their partnership helps ensure a smoother transaction and ability to close.